Wednesday 18th & Thursday 19th November 2026

09:00-12:00h GMT/10:00-13:00h CET

It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to our seventh Plant Protection Symposium. This annual virtual symposium takes place over the course of two mornings. The format is very simple, touching base with all of the EU regulatory zones and also the neighbouring European region of GB/NI, while also including different viewpoints from other stakeholders in the plant protection industry. Our aim for the symposium is to be short, relevant and focussed.

Dublin PPP Symposium 2026

Confirmed speakers include:

Bento de Carvalho (Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária (DGAV), Portugal) – Update on activities in the Southern Zone

Dr Theresa Merl (Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Austria) – Update on current activities and developments in the Central Zone

Dr Rachel Jane Sharp (European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Italy) – New EFSA bird and mammal guidance document

Thérèse Gohin (IBMA – International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association AISBL, Belgium) – European Registration of Biocontrol Product

Sarah Frow (Health and Safety Executive, CRD, UK) – Regulatory developments in GB/NI Region

Kevin Heylen (CropLife Europe, Belgium) – Developments in PPP Legislation in the European Union

Darren Abrahams (Steptoe and Johnson LLP, Belgium) – Legal cases impacting plant protection products in the EU

Dr Antonela Majić (Conagra Reg d.o.o., Croatia) – Plant Protection Product Registration in Croatia: From Application to Market

Sandra Schmidt Jørgensen (Agrolab Consulting, Denmark) – Update on activities in the Northern Zone

Christine Roehri and Cindy Jean-Baptiste (ANADIAG SAS, France) – Main considerations from PPP guideline updates and Authorities’ evaluations to provide fully compliant analytical dossiers

 

Speakers on Day 1 – Wednesday 18th November 2026

Chairperson

Dr. Irene McGrath
Managing Director, Kerona Scientific Ltd., Ireland

Irene is Managing Director of Kerona Scientific, a European regulatory consultancy headquartered in Ireland, with offices in the UK and Spain. She has over 30 years’ experience managing regulatory departments in industry and providing regulatory consultancy services, with expertise spanning plant protection products, biocides, biostimulants and fertilisers across the EU.

She leads a team supporting clients across the proprietary and generic plant protection, biocides, fertiliser, plant biostimulant and biopesticide sectors, helping them meet their European regulatory requirements.

Irene holds a BSc in Analytical Science and a PhD in Chemistry from Dublin City University (DCU).

Dr. Kevin Heylen
Senior Regulatory Affairs Manager, CropLife Europe, Belgium

Kevin has been Senior Manager Regulatory Affairs at CropLife Europe since 2021. CropLife Europe represents the crop protection sector across conventional pesticides, biopesticides, plant biotechnology, and digital and precision agriculture. Kevin’s responsibilities cover the European regulatory framework for crop protection products, including biocontrol solutions, covering both active substance approval and product authorisation. He also manages regulatory issues relating to other relevant EU legislation, including pesticide residues and general chemicals legislation.

Before joining CropLife Europe, Kevin spent seven years as Regulatory Affairs Advisor with the Belgian crop protection and biocides association, where he covered both crop protection products and biocides. Earlier in his career, he worked at DG SANTE and in a laboratory research role at the University of Florida, USA. Kevin holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.

Sarah Frow
Acting Head of Unit, Pesticides Regulation – Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Chemical Regulations Division, UK

Sarah is an operational leader in HSE, having trained and practised as a solicitor defending corporate clients in regulatory investigations and prosecutions in a former life. Sarah joined HSE in 2021 and worked in operationalising pesticide authorisations following the transition period post EU Exit, ensuring as a regulator compliance with GB only and NI only authorisations could be operationalised in a clear process.  She now oversees the pesticides Unit which consists of the delivery teams working in HSE for the pesticide permissioning process, ensuring that high quality authorisations are outputted and managing performance and timeliness of authorisations being issued, which includes oversight of the lifetime of a pesticide application.

Dr Antonela Majić
Regulatory Consultant, Conagra Reg d.o.o., Croatia

Antonela is a regulatory consultant specialising in the registration of plant protection products, fertilisers and biocides in Croatia. She began her career as an advisor in an agricultural pharmacy before joining the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Zoology in 2005. There, she was involved in teaching, field experiments and entomological research, and published several scientific and professional papers in national and international journals. Antonela subsequently joined the Centre for Plant Protection, where she worked as an expert in the evaluation of plant protection products, specialising in environmental fate, as well as in entomology.

Antonela later moved into the Croatian industry sector as a Regulatory Manager before establishing herself as an independent regulatory consultant, advising both international and national companies. Antonela graduated in Plant Protection and holds a PhD in Phytomedicine from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture.

Christine Roehri
Laboratory Manager and Study Director, ANADIAG SAS, France

Christine holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg. She joined ANADIAG SAS in 2007, specialising in the analytical development of methods for screening and characterising active substances. She subsequently developed the company’s chemical services dedicated to the custom synthesis of analytical impurity standards before taking on the role of Study Director, managing 5-batch and physicochemical studies.

In 2017, Christine moved into a global laboratory management role. Working closely with clients worldwide, she provides scientific support for regulatory registrations and oversees service compliance with relevant regulatory requirements. She is also responsible for assessing the technical feasibility of new project requests in the areas of biocides, REACH and plant protection products.

Cindy Jean-Baptiste
Business Development Manager, ANADIAG SAS, France

Cindy has been Business Development Manager at ANADIAG SAS since 2020, specialising in GLP services including 5-batch studies, physicochemical testing and residue projects covering both field trials and analytical studies. She works closely with clients to identify tailored solutions to support product registration worldwide.

A graduate in Chemical Engineering from École Polytechnique (Université libre de Bruxelles), Cindy joined ANADIAG SAS in 2004 and has over 20 years’ experience in the plant protection products sector. During her career, she has held various technical and management roles, including Study Director for GLP analytical residue studies and manager of the team responsible for physicochemical studies.

Dr Rachel Sharp
Regulatory Ecotoxicologist, EFSA and the UK Pesticides Authority, Italy

Rachel Sharp is a regulatory ecotoxicologist with 22 years’ experience at EFSA and the UK’s pesticides authority. She has worked on a wide range of pesticide risk assessments and contributed to several key EFSA projects, including coordinating the update of the Guidance Document on the risk assessment for birds and mammals.

More recently, Rachel has been involved in EFSA’s work on assessing the indirect effects of pesticides through trophic interactions. Her experience covers a broad range of pesticide product types, including those considered to pose lower risks than conventional pesticides.

 

Speakers on Day 2 – Thursday 19th November 2026

Thérèse Gohin
Technical & Regulatory Officer, International Biocontrol Manufacturers  Association (IBMA), Belgium

Thérèse is a Regulatory Project Officer at IBMA Global, the international association representing the biocontrol industry. She supports four professional groups covering microorganisms, invertebrate biocontrol agents, natural substances and semiochemicals, contributing to the development of a proportionate, science-based regulatory framework for biocontrol.

Thérèse previously worked in the European Commission’s DG SANTE unit responsible for pesticide regulation and has experience in sustainable food systems, agroecology and international development, including two years managing projects in Senegal. Thérèse holds an engineering degree in International Agronomy and Development, specialising in health and nutrition.

Dr Theresa Merl
Case Manager (Products & Active Substances), Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Austria

Theresa is a scientist at the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), with a background in technical chemistry and specialisation in environmental and soil chemistry. Her research focuses on soil health, fertiliser effects, ammonia emissions and environmental pollution.

Theresa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Graz and completed master’s-level studies at the University of New England in Australia, Graz University of Technology and Aarhus University in Denmark. She subsequently obtained a PhD in Biology and Analytical Chemistry from Aarhus University.

Bento de Carvalho
Senior Officer Plant Protection Products Management and Authorization Unit, Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária (DGAV), Portugal

Bento is an Agronomic Engineer and has worked at the Portuguese Competent Authority for plant protection products since 1999. He is Portugal’s EU contact point for PPP authorisations and a member of the EFSA Pesticide Steering Network. He also represents Portugal on the Southern Zone Steering Committee, Interzonal Steering Committee and Post-Approval Issues Working Group.

Bento holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration.

Sandra Schmidt Jørgensen
CEO, Agrolab Consulting, Denmark

Sandra is the CEO of AgroLab Consulting and an experienced regulatory affairs professional specialising in pesticide registration in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Sandra has spent more than 10 years working at the intersection of science, regulation, and business, supporting international crop protection companies with regulatory strategy, product registrations, and market access across the Northern Zone. In addition to her technical expertise,

Sandra brings extensive leadership experience from executive and board-facing roles in highly regulated environments.

Darren Abrahams
Partner, Steptoe and Johnson LLP, Belgium

Darren advises clients across the chemicals and life sciences supply chain on obtaining and maintaining market access for their products in the UK and EU. He provides strategic advice to companies, consortia and trade associations worldwide, undertakes advocacy before public authorities and agencies, and represents clients in litigation before courts and tribunals, including the ECHA Board of Appeal and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

Darrens expertise spans biocidal products, plant protection products, REACH, CLP, food and feed legislation, GMOs and wider environmental law, including extensive experience with the Aarhus Convention.